Connecticut Historical Collections

"13. If any Childe or Children above sixteene years old and of suffitient under- standing, shall Cuiso or smite their natural! lather or mother, hee or they shall bee put to death; unless it can bee sulFiciemly testihed that the parents have beene very unchristianly negligent in the education of such children, or so provoke ttiem by ex- treme and crucU correction that they have been forced thereunto to preserve theui- selves from death, maiming. Exo. '21. 17. — Levit. '20. — Ex. 21. 15. "11. If any man liavc astubborne and rebellious sonne of sutficient yeares and understanding, viz. Sixteene yeares of age, which will noi obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and that when they liave chastened him will not hearken unto lliemj then may liis (falher and mother, being his nalnrall parents, lay hold on liini and bring hini to the Magi'-tratis assembled in Courle, and testitie unio lliem, thai iheire suiuie is siubburnc and icbellioiis and will not obey ihcire voice and Chas- tisement, but lives m sundry notorious Crimes, such a soiiue shall bee jiut to death. Deut. 21.20, 21." In 1613, tiie colonics of Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Ilavei), united into a conlbderacy, for their own mutual safety and welfare, and called themselves the " United Colonics of New Eng- landy Each colony was authorized to send two commissioners, to meet annually in Seplemher, first at Boston, then at Hartford, New Haven, and Plymouth. The coiuinissioners were vested with plenary- powers for making war and peace, and rules of general concern ; espe- cially, to regidate the conduct of the inhabitants towards the Indians, for the general defense of the country, and for the support and encour- af^eincnt of religion. This union was of miiclijmportance to the New England colonies, [t made them formidable to the Dutch and Inilian.s, and it was one of the principal means of their preservation during the unsettled state and civil wars of the mother country. At the Cieneral Court in .'\prii, K^ 11, a committee was appointed, consisting of the governor, deputy governor, and several others, to treat with George FenwicU, Esq. relative to the pmchase of Saybiook fort, and all the biiildings and lands in the colony which he, and the lords and gentlemen interested in the patent of Connecticut, might claim. The negociaiion was successful, and the colony, in the whole, paid Mr. Fenwick £1,600 sterling, merely for the jurisdiction right, or for the old patent of Connecticut. About this period, tobacco was coming into use in the colony ; the fol- lowing curious law was made for its regulation or supi^ression. " TOBAGKO. "Fforasmuch as it is observed, that many abuses are crept in, and committed, by fre- quent taking of lobarko ; "/< is ordered by the authnrilij of this Cintr/c, That no person under the age of twenty one years, nor any other, that hatli not already accustomed hiinselfe to the use thereof, k .shall take any tnbacko, iintill hee hath brought a en tuicale under the hands of some who are approved for knowledge and slcill in phisick, that it is useful! ior him, and allso, tliat he hath received a lycense from tlie courte, for the same. — And fur the regulating of those, who either by Iheire foimer takine- it, have to theire own appre- hensions, made it necessary to them, or upon due advice, arc ])ersuadcd to the use thereof: "It is ordered, That no man within this colonye, aller the publication hereof, sh.ill y take any tobacko, publiquely, in the streett, highwaves, or any barne. yards, or uppon I training daycsj m any open places, under the penalty of six pence for each offence o 18 OUT LINK HISTOUY. against this order, in any ihe perliculars thereof, to bee pnul without gainesaying up- pon conviction, by the icslimony of one witness, tliat is willioiit jusl exception, belore any one magistrate. And the constables in the several! townes, are required to make presentment to each pertieuhir courte, of such as they doe understand, and can evict to bee transgressors of this order." Until the year 1618, the governors and magistrates appear ^to have served the people Ibr the honor of it, and the public good. The gen- eral court granted the governor £30 annually. The same sum was granted to the deputy governoi-, who had presided the preceding year. These appear to have been the Hrst salaries given to any civil ollicers in the colony, and to have been a compensation for the expense of the office, rather than for compensation for the service performed. Mr. Ludlow had been desired, by the General Court, for several years successively, to make a collecti.ni of laws which had been enacted, and to revise and prepare a body of laws for the colony. lu the year 1649, he finished the work, and a code was established at the session of the Assembly. Until this period, punishmenlSj being left at the discretion of the courts, in many instances had been uncertain and arbitrary. In 194G, one Bartlclt, for defamation, was sentenced to stand in the pillory during the public lecture, then to be whipped, pay £5, and sulier six months imprisonment. In the same year, one Turner, for the same crime, was sentenced to be whipped, and then imprisoned a month ; at the month's end to go to the post again, and then to be bound for his good behavior. For violation of the Sabbath, there is an instance ot imprisonment during the pleasure of the court. Unchastity between single persons was sometimes punished by setting the delinquent in the pillory, and by whipping him fioni one town to anothel'. ^ In'lG5;3, such were the injuries which had been sustained from the Dutch at New Netherlands, and their plotting and inciting the Ind^ians against the Eni^dish, that it was a year of great distress and alarin. The colonies of Connecticut and New Haven provided a frigate of ten or twelve guns, with forl\ iiu'n, lo drfrml the coar^t ag.iin^t the Dutch, and to prevent Ninigratr and his In.liaiis from c tossing the Somid, m prose- cution of his hostile designs against the Indians in alliance with the col- onies. In the following year^ 1651, the colony having received an or- der from Parliament to treat the Dutch as declared enemies, the Dutch house and lands at Hartford were seized for the benefit of the comtnon- wealth. , r 1 In 1655, Governor Katon finished the compilation of a code ot laws for the New Haven colony. For his assistance, he was re(|uested, by the General Court, to consult the Rev. jNIr. Cotton's discourse on civil government in a new plantation, and the laws of IMassachusetts. The faws having been examined and ai)proved by the elders of the jurisdic- tion, they were presented to the General Court. They ordered that five hundred copies should be printed. The copy was sent to Eng- land to be printed, under the inspection of Gov. Hopkins. " He pro- cured the printing of the laws at his own expense, and sent the number proposed, with some other valuable books, _ as a present. The laws were distributed to the several towns in the jurisdiction." O U T L I N K HISTORY. 19 In 1661, Governor Winthrop of Gonnecllcut was appointed agent of tlie colony, lo go to England and prescnl a petition to King Charles II. for the purpose of obtaining a patent. The governor was a man of address, and he arrived in England at a happy time for Connecticut. Lord Say and SeaJ, the great iViend of the colony, had been particu- larly instrumental in restoring Chailcs to the throne of his falliei', and was now iu high favor at court. The earl of ]\lanches(er, another friend of the puritans, was chamberlain of his majesiy's household. ]Mr. Win- throp had an oxtraordinary ring, which had been given his grandfather by King Charles I. which he precented io the king. This, it is said, exceedingly pleased his majesty, as it had been once the properly of a father most dear to him. Under all these favorable circumstances, the |)etition of Coimecticut was prescnlefl, and was received with uncommon grace and favor. Upon the iiOth of Aiiril, 1662, his majesty granted the colony his letters patent, conveying the rnosl ample priviliges, under the great seal of England. Tlie colony of New Haven was by the charter included within the limits of Connecticut. This gave great dissatisfaction to most of the inhabitants of New Haven colony. Their ministers and churches were universally against being united with Connecticut. Mr. Davenport and others of the colony were strong in the opinion, that all government should be in the church. No person in this colony could be a freeman unless he was a member of the church in full communion. But in Con- necticut, all orderly persons, possessing a freehold to a certain amount, might be free of the corporation. The New Haven people were un- doubtedly fearful that an unoin with Connecticut would mar the purity and order of their churches, and have a bad effect on the civil adminis- trati(jns. It was also a painful reflection, that after they iiad been also r»»ucli jiaius ;uid expense to form a ilislinct conimonweallh, that their existence as a separate pefjple hhould cease, and their name be obliter- ated. After considerable trouble and dillicnlty, the two colonies of (.'onneclicut and New Haven, at the general election, i\lay 1 Itli, 1655, united in one, and John Winthrop, Esq. was chosen governor.